The doctor put my grandmother on Aricept when he diagnosed her Alzheimers a couple years ago through a battery of memorization tests. It did slow down the symptoms, but I think it was one of those cases where you didn't know what would happen next and alzheimers has 7 stages and each person doesn't enter into the same stage, some advance quickly through them, while others progress through them slowly. Aricept does slow down the progression, but only in some cases.
Correct as I understand it.
May be related to when treatment begins.